Chapter 55: The Heist

Warsaw, Poland

Druella and her lackeys stood crouched upon a roof across from the medical clinic that housed the dreaded CRISPR.

For the past few weeks the quadruplet of mamono had been pilvering, plundering and pinching materials and technologies that Svetlana needed for her experiments. Her list was nearing completion.

After going over the plan the group of four mamono had made their way across town under the cover of night. Tara, being the most human looking one of the group, had scouted out the clinic previously. Security, while present, was minimal and the clinic was closed between midnight and 6 AM. Between the four mamono, getting in and out of the clinic without being spotted was going to be a cakewalk.

Observing the street below to ensure no wandering eyes, Druella stretched her white wings, picked up the small Svetlana and took off. She glided across the road and landed quietly on the roof of the clinic. Svetlana leapt out of the lilim's hands and scanned the rooftop. Meanwhile Druella waved to the other two mamono to cross the gap.

Tara scanned the road below and waved her staff, placing a flight spell on herself and Hannah. The two of them crossed the gap, albeit slower than Druella and Svetlana. Nevertheless, the two mamono landed on the roof, the people below none the wiser.

The mamono had debated whether or not to just use teleportation magic to break into the clinic. They had ultimately decided against it for a few reasons. One, Druella and company could not reasonably discern where the CRISPR would be. They could very easily get lost and get caught. Two, the amount of mana required to cast several teleportation spells was immense, it would be better to save their mana for other spells.

With the mamono altogether on the roof of the clinic Svetlana led the group over to a roof access door. There Druella stepped forward and held out her hand.

"Hmm. There doesn't seem to be any alarms or triggers on this door. The only thing is the physical lock which, there!"

The door clicked and Svetlana took the handle and gently swung it open. The stairwell was dark, with no discernable light at the bottom. At this the gremlin placed her goggles off her forehead and over her eyes as Druella cast some night vision spells on herself and Hannah. Svetlana activated the night vision feature on the goggles as she began to make her way down the stairs. Druella and Hannah followed behind her as Tara stayed at the top. The dark mage being designated the lookout.

The group snuck down the stairs till they reached another door, also locked. After another spell the trio snuck into the hallway. The lights were dimmed but still on as the three made their way into the lab; with Druella casting a direction spell to find and locate the CRISPR.

As they reached the adjacent hallway however, Svetlana held out her hand as she heard footsteps coming their way. Hannah moved her way to the front as Svetlana peaked around the corner.

Down the hallway two guards were talking to each other as they made their way to the otherside. There were no visible weapons on them but still this was concerning to the little gremlin. It seemed that the security was amped up after the group's exploits at other similar sites.

Hannah gently pulled Svetlana back as the giant bogie pressed herself against the wall. Eventually the guards passed by and she struck! Grabbing the backs of the two men's uniforms, she easily lifted them into the air as she klonked the two men's heads together.

After gently placing them into a nearby empty room, the trio of mamono continued. Eventually, they reached the lab where the materials for CRISPR were stored. Druella unlocked the door again as the mamono stormed inside. Svetlana immediately began to gather everything she needed, Hannah kept watch as Druella surveyed the room.

The lilim sneered at the whole display, she felt like she was disgracing her whole race by pilfering this place instead of just destroying it. But at the end of the day Svetlana was right. For now, CRISPR would be needed to help advance her and her mother's plans.

Svetlana opened her pack and began to gently and carefully place materials within it. Their safety was paramount otherwise this whole mission was a waste of time. Thankfully, she designed her bag to be a perfect storage vessel for such things.

Eventually, she gathered up everything she needed and gave a signal to Druella and Hannah. Hannah peered out of the doorway and scanned the area before gesturing to the lilim and gremlins to follow her.

The trio began to make their way down the hallway back to the stairwell, so far things had gone very well for them.

This would not last.

As they turned the corner, an alarm began to blare! The three mamono paused for a moment in surprise, before booking it to the stairwell. As they got to the doorway, another pair of guards turned the corner down the other side of the hallway. The two expressed surprise at the mamono before. They recovered and cried out to the mamono before dashing down the hallway to the trio.

Druella launched a pair of stunning spells at the guards as Svetlana dashed up the easily hit their marks as the guards slipped and fell backwards, both landing hard on their backs. The lilim cringed slightly at this before following her companions up the stairs.

"Is everyone alright?!" Tara asked as Druella slammed the door behind her, the metal slightly warping under her intense strength.

"We're fine Tara, but the alarm was tripped. We need to move before the humans find out where we went! Get your flight spell ready." Druella demanded as she picked up Svetlana and stretched her wings again.

Tara nodded as she waved her staff on herself and Hannah and the pair began to float off the roof as Druella took off. But as they crossed the threshold of the building, the radical mamono ran into a problem.

The blaring alarms of the building had alerted the authorities, and those arriving authorities had drawn a small but growing crowd. Mamono and humans alike watched in speculation as more and more police arrived on the scene. All those eyes weren't trained on the building however.

"Hey! Look up there!" A human pointed up to Druella's group just as they landed on the other rooftop. Druella cursed herself as the four shifted into crisis mode, Hannah picked up Svetlana and began to dash off to the outside stairwell. Druella and Tara followed behind, both casting invisibility spells on the group.

By the time the police had gotten to the stairwell, the mamono were long gone. Between their invisibility and extra-human abilities, the cops had no chance. Still though, Druella was frustrated with the outcome. Now people were even more aware of them, and now could pin suspicion on the mamono.

The group would soon make it back to base, Svetlana immediately began to study the CRISPR as Tara rested herself. Hannah took lookout duty as Druella pondered their next moves. No doubt the humans would intensify their search for them now, especially now that they know mamono were the ones committing these crimes.

Still though they had finally accomplished their goals. Everything Svetlana required was now at their disposal. The experiments could begin in earnest, to find a cure for these human's terrible immunities.

Across town however, someone was just arriving. Someone who could very well ruin everything Druella had been building up to so far

Outskirts of Warsaw

After another long and harrowing journey across the ocean Alice had arrived in Poland's capital. Even before she got here she had already been impressed with the country and its more religious ideals. Sure it was no Order State, but it was good enough.

The empowered valkyrie surveyed the skyline as dawn broke, the first beams of sunlight coming over the horizon. She was here, but now what? Where to start? Where could, should, she begin her quest to eradicate the mamono threat from this world?

Luckily for her, and unluckily for the city of Warsaw, that threat wasn't far off.